Incoming Expenses

Review and assign expenses that have arrived via email or integrations.

Overview

The Incoming Expenses page shows expenses that have arrived in your account but haven't been assigned to a project yet. These are typically created automatically when supplier invoices are received by email or through external integrations (such as Zapier or N8n workflows).

Think of this page as your inbox for expenses — new items land here and wait for you to review and sort them into the right project.

How Expenses Arrive Here

Expenses appear on this page when they are created without a project assignment. This happens when:

  • Email invoices — A supplier sends an invoice to your account's processing email address. The AI extracts the details and creates an expense automatically.
  • API integrations — External tools create expenses via the API without specifying a project_id.
  • Manual creation — An expense is created without selecting a project.

These expenses are temporarily held in an Operating holding area until you assign them.

AI Invoice Processing

When a supplier sends an invoice to your account's processing email address, the AI automatically:

  1. Extracts invoice details — Reads the PDF or email body to identify the supplier, invoice number, amount, date, and line items.
  2. Matches the supplier — Finds or creates the supplier in your contacts based on the name and ABN.
  3. Checks for duplicates — Searches your existing expenses for potential matches from the same supplier with similar amounts and dates.
  4. Creates the expense — Adds the expense to Incoming with the extracted details and attaches the original PDF as a supplier invoice.

What Happens with Duplicates

If you've already entered an expense manually (e.g. from a quote or purchase order) and the supplier invoice arrives later by email, the AI will detect the overlap:

  • Exact invoice number match — If the incoming invoice has the same invoice number and supplier as an existing expense, the system automatically attaches the PDF to the existing expense. No new expense is created and no review is needed.
  • Potential match — If the supplier and amount match but there's no exact invoice number match, a new expense is created and flagged for review. You'll see an alert on this page prompting you to review the match. See the Invoice Review help page for details on reviewing and merging.

Processing Logs

The Processing Logs section at the bottom of this page shows the last 25 invoices processed by AI, including their status (completed, auto-merged, needs review, or failed).

Each log entry shows the date, sender email, subject line, processing status, and linked expense number (if created). You can also:

  • View the original file — Click the paperclip icon next to the subject to open the original PDF or image that was submitted for processing.
  • See why processing failed — Failed entries display the error reason directly below the status badge, so you can quickly understand what went wrong.
  • Retry failed invoices — Click the retry icon (circular arrows) to resubmit the invoice for AI processing. This re-queues the original file without needing to resend the email.
  • Delete logs — Remove failed, skipped, or deleted entries you no longer need.

Common Processing Errors

If an invoice fails to process, the error message will indicate the cause:

  • Provider Timeout — The AI service didn't respond in time. This is usually temporary — click retry after a few minutes.
  • Rate Limited — Too many invoices were sent in a short period and the AI provider is throttling requests. Wait a few minutes and retry.
  • Authentication Failed — Your AI API key may be invalid or expired. Check your key in Settings > AI Processing.
  • Provider Outage — The AI service is experiencing issues. This is temporary — retry later.
  • Connection Failed — Could not reach the AI service. This may indicate a network issue or service downtime.
  • Parse Error — The AI returned a response that couldn't be understood. Retrying often resolves this.

What You Can Do

Review

Each expense shows its key details — title, supplier, amount, date, and state. Check these are correct before assigning.

Assign to a Project

Edit the expense and select the correct project. Once assigned, the expense moves out of the Incoming list and appears in the project's financial documents.

Confirm as Internal

If an expense is a genuine operational or overhead cost (not related to a client project), you can confirm it as an operating expense. This moves it to the Operating Expenses page and keeps it separate from project work.

Bulk Actions

Select multiple expenses to assign or confirm them in bulk, saving time when processing a batch of incoming items.

Best Practice

Check the Incoming Expenses page regularly to keep on top of new supplier invoices. Expenses left here won't appear in project-level financial reports until they are assigned to a project.

If the same supplier regularly sends invoices, consider setting up a default project assignment so future invoices are automatically sorted.